Soul Eater: Monotone Princess: The Movie
by Ynot7
Summary: Soul Eater The Movie. Based on the video game, Monotone Princess, and set after the anime. The DWMA faces a new enemy in the form of the witch Ponera, the mysterious Grimoire and their evil organization. Badass action, humor, some romance (SoMa) and lots of cool moments for all the underused characters (especially Mifune) Enjoy! (: Now up for adoption.
1. Chapter 1

The laughing moon. A familiar, if unsettling, sight. Tonight, however, it was more unsettling than usual, due largely to the presence of blood dripping from the moon's chuckling grin, as this was a sign that blood had been spilled.

Now, normally, when a person sees this blood, they might wonder whose blood was spilled and feel bad for the unfortunate soul. Seldom, would someone stop and think about the blood once it reached the ground. The moon, though, knew the scenario well. It knew where the blood would hit the ground and the sound it would make as it dripped.

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

The sound had a kind of rhythm to it, almost like your faucet when it springs a leak. Yet, tonight, as the moon observed, the blood was not alone in making this music. Tonight, it was joined by two sets of footprints, one following the other to the beat of the dripping, as if in a dance.

Yet, this was no dance. For scythemeister Maka Albarn and her partner, Soul Eater Evans, this was one soul closer to the long-awaited goal of elevating Soul to Deathscythe status.

_"Deep breaths"_ Maka told herself as the target ahead of them ran, or rather, galloped, at a steady pace through the dark forest.

As the pain in Maka's chest grew, she began to notice that the target was moving farther away from, not closer to them. Wanting to end the pursuit, an idea entered her mind.

"Hey" Soul spoke out, "you thinkin' what I'm thinkin?"

Maka grinned and nodded. In one swift motion, Maka screeched to a halt and used the momentum from her running to fling Soul forward in a horizontal slash, severing the legs of their opponent's horse, sending the rider and the _package _he was carrying tumbling to the ground, reducing the demonic steed to a floating red soul, and lastly, embedding Soul in a nearby tree (much to the demon scythe's annoyance).

"Cool move, Maka" Soul quipped as Maka pulled him from the tree, flashing him a small grin. "Hey, heads up" He spoke as the figure behind them stirred.

Maka turned to face their opponent, determination burning brightly in her eyes (though not as brightly as the flames from their opponent's Jack-O-Lantern head).

"Headless Horseman, for your crimes of murder and aiding the witch, Ponera, in her madness inducing experiments, I'm here to claim your soul."

The Horseman let loose a booming laugh, his head's flames flashing as he chuckled. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, really? Well you can try, but I think my friends might object to that."

Suddenly out from the shadows came three new monstrous figures to join their headless friend.

The Horseman spoke, drawing his sword. "Master Thief Lupin, The Flying Dutchman, and Dreamkiller Frey D. Sadoko, all enemies of the Academy, and all are here to make this fight much more interesting. So, are you still bent on taking my soul?"

"Heh" Maka grinned "All of you in one place? Good. That means the Academy will conveniently be able to scratch all of you off its' list at the same time."

As she spoke, though, an unseen figure crouched in the shadows of the nearby trees. Silently, it reached into it's quiver and took out an arrow. Taking aim at Maka's head, it stretched the string of its' bow and let go, sending the arrow flying toward Maka Albarn's skull.

_BLAM. BLAM. _The arrow had been broken in midair by a gunshot. Maka, and the others turned to see the source of the shot.

Standing on a nearby rock, was the dark-haired figure of Death the Kid, his guns gleaming in the moonlight.

"Liz, Patty, excellent work on stopping that arrow." Kid complimented.

"Well, thanks Kid" Liz responded, "but I don't see why you had to fire both of us for just one arrow."

"For symmetry, of course. Really Liz, you should know better by now." The young shinigami corrected.

"Ha-ha! Yeah, you really should big sis!" Giggled Patty.

Liz sighed. "You know, what's really scary is that I completely agree with you."

"Hold on a minute" Soul interrupted "we're here and you're there so where's..."

"YAHOO! Black Star Big Wave!"

A flash of light and the bow wielding assailant was flung from the trees, landing at the feet of Maka and the archer's companions.

"Now, that was an amazing entrance, wasn't it Tsubaki?" The blue-haired assassin asked as he stepped out of the forest, flexing his muscles and grinning in a pose.

"Uh yeah, amazing Black Star." The dark arm replied while thinking to herself _"Though it would've been more dignified if you hadn't had to ask me that."_

"So" Black Star continued "now that, thanks to me and my awesomeness, your buddy The Hood" (referring to the green-cloaked, hooded archer who was currently joining the other targets) "had to come out of his hiding spot, whaddya say we get this show on the road and start kickin' some ass?"

"Ha-ha-ha" The Horseman laughed smugly, pointing his sword at Black Star, his flames burning brighter, casting eerie shadows across the surrounding area. "Alright, but remember, I've taken heads younger and cockier than yours!"

And like that, the battle began. It was a flash of shooting and slicing, dodging and kicking that would be very hard for an outside observer to keep track of. Black Star found himself avoiding both the Horseman's sword strokes and the flames that shot from his Jack-O-Lantern, while Kid took to settling an old score with the Flying Dutchman as he also avoided the more deadly accuracy from the Hood's arrows. Maka, meanwhile was busy spinning Soul to fend off the twin guns of Lupin and the claws of Frey D. Sadoko (a tactic that combined with the super-size chili-cheese hotdog Soul had for lunch to make the scythe quite sick, but that's a different story).

It didn't take long for the tide of battle to turn in the Academy students' favor. A single dodge of the Horseman's flame attack by Black Star led to the Flying Dutchman being reduced to a single red, floating soul, (much to the Horseman's embarrassment) leaving only the Hood for Kid to deal with.

The Hood was a tough opponent, jumping and kicking, while firing arrows like a machine gun. Kid actually sweat a little before he managed break his opponent's bow with Liz while placing Patty under the Hood's jaw before pulling the trigger.

_Blam._ With that sound, Kid's fight was over with.

Meanwhile, Maka had managed to slice through both of Lupin's guns, leading the cowardly thief to abandon Frey. D Sadoko.

By herself, Sadoko was quickly overwhelmed. In one stroke, Sadoko was bisected and joined the Flying Dutchman and the Hood in being reduced to a floating red soul.

_"Maybe I can still make a clean getaway" _Lupin thought to himself as he attempted to pick up the Horseman's dropped package, a green cocoon-like object, before he felt a sudden pressure on it, preventing him from doing so. Looking forward, he spotted a black shoe pressed on top of the cocoon. Glancing up, he saw that it belonged to Death the Kid, who was currently pointing Patty at his head.

"Oh no you don't", Kid spoke sternly, "you're not getting away this time."

_Blam._ Kid pulled the trigger, leaving only the Horseman to fight.

With another jolt from Black Star's wavelength, the Horseman found his back slumped up against a tree as he gazed forward to see the Academy's students all assembled against him.

Picking himself up, the Horseman chuckled a little to himself before sheathing his sword.

"Heh-heh, alright, I know when I'm beaten, so I won't drag this out any longer." He said, taking the Jack-O-Lantern from the top of his neck and placing it between his hands.

"What are you...?" Maka questioned.

"I guess I just have to accept my defeat. The fate of a fallen warrior. Be warned, though, there are much more frightening forces than me at work tonight."

Then, before anyone could respond, he pressed on both sides of his Jack-O-Lantern until it crumbled to pieces, causing his body to disintegrate, leaving only a brightly burning flame in its' place.

"Goodbye, students." His voice sounded before even his flame burned out and one final red soul was left in his place.

A long silence settled on the scene before Kid spoke up. "What do you suppose this thing is, anyways?" he said, gesturing to the cocoon on the ground.

"Who knows?" Black Star responded, somewhat indifferent.

"Whatever it is, we should collect it and these souls and get back to Sid and Mifune." Maka replied. "I'm sure Professor Stein will be able to figure it out."

"Let's change the subject to something more interesting." Black Star blurted. "Like me and how awesome I was in that fight, for example."

"Oh, really?" Soul responded, smirking. "You mean the fight where me and Maka collected one soul, Kid and the sisters collected three, and you collected zero?"

At that, Black Star looked away, and let out a frustrated snort. "Let's just get going." Black Star replied, changing the subject as he picked up the cocoon.

Amused, Maka let out a small giggle, unaware that two figures observed them from a nearby clifftop.

"Some fight, wasn't it, Grimoire?" The first figure, a pale, dark haired woman, in a white dress says in a somewhat childish giddy voice.

"Yes, it was." The second figure, a tan-skinned man wearing a gray plaid golf cap, jeans, and a white undershirt, replied, his eyes glowing red. "And the best part was that everything went as planned. Our minions put up enough of a fight that the Academy won't suspect what our real intentions were. Soon the cocoon will be in place and we'll be able to observe our test subject in action."

"Speaking of action", Ponera said, "I'd love to see some more of that blue-haired boy, he was as cute as a bug in a rug." She nuzzled the small, pink ant-like stuffed animal in her arms.

Amused, Grimoire replied "Oh, don't worry you'll be seeing more of them, so long as our plans continue. Heh-heh, it's funny really."

Ponera raised a brow in confusion.

Grimoire continued, "You see, they thought that Asura was the source of madness, but the real source, as they're about to learn, is the human heart."

At this, both of the pair smiled smugly, unaware that they too, were being observed. Their observer, the yellow, chuckling one with blood dripping from its' mouth simply thought to itself _"Oh, the stories I could tell."_

* * *

**And that's chapter one! I hope you liked it.** Also, to answer any questions you might have, those characters at the end were villains from Monotone Princess (In case ya didn't know) and the Hood was basically a kishin Robin Hood. Also, to fans of my other work, Crona will make a prominent appearance in this story, but he won't be the main focus as I want to grow as a writer by writing about other characters, though he's still my fav. Also, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW. I cannot say how much it annoys me when people like or dislike my work, but stay silent. I need reviews so I can improve, so please be courteous. Anyways, I hope to have the next chapter up in about a week. Til then, ciao!****


	2. Chapter 2

Mifune's life had not gone as he expected. Having gone from a wandering ronin to a hitman for mobsters, to the guardian of a young witch, to a servant for the heretic witch Arachne, to a teacher at the DWMA and a guardian of order (and mentor to a student whose father he killed), his life had taken many unexpected turns. The latest of these turns, however, had put him here. On the far edge of an isolated village in Romania, in the middle of the night.

Perching himself on the grass near a large stone arch, the samurai's thoughts drifted to how his life had been since its' latest unexpected turn. It had felt odd, to say the least, having the students refer to him as "Mr. Mifune", to say nothing of how awkward it was to fight alongside troops who he'd been killing not to long ago. Then there was the matter of Angela.

Being a teacher meant that Angela was often left in the care of the school's secretary, a woman of many talents, but being a babysitter was not one of them. In just the first week at the Academy, Angela had managed to sneak off and wreck Stein's lab (Stein was not amused), made it so Kilik couldn't do resonance practice because she'd managed to get both the Pots join her in a game of tag, got a scissors and snipped Ox's hair and one of Maka's pigtails (though Maka didn't go catatonic for half a day, unlike Ox), scribbled on Kid's suit with a magic marker (Kid soon joined Ox in a coma), keyed Soul's motorcycle, mastered invisibility well enough to scare Crona into a corner, messed up Liz's nail painting, and finally, interrupted one of Black Star's speeches by kicking him in the balls, yet again (though Mifune didn't hear many complaints about that, except by Black Star). Even now, little drops of embarrassment formed on Mifune's head as he recalled his last call to Angela and how she'd stolen Lord Death's mask and proclaimed herself the new Lord Death.

Still, there were positives. Having a place to stay where the occupants weren't all cultists bent on world domination was a definite improvement. Also, being near people who he didn't suspect of wanting to use Angela as collateral in order to force him to fight for them was definitely a plus. Lord Death had even agreed to help (with the aid of an anonymous witch living in Death City) curb the influence of magic on Angela. Now that he thought about it, being called "Mr. Mifune" wasn't so bad, really. Plus, watching Angela just playing tag with other kids was kind of nice, even if it was a nightmare to clean up after. Mifune smirked a little at the memory.

"Mifune!" a stern voice called, bringing Mifune out of his thoughts. The samurai glanced up to see the blue figure of Sid the zombie hastily beckoning to him from a nearby tree clearing. "Black Star and the others have just come back! Plus, they have the package with them, so we should go meet up with them, since I never was the kind of man to keep people waiting!"

Rising to his feet, Mifune gathered his swords, thinking to himself about how Black Star would probably behave and wondering whether or not he should count him as a positive or a negative. Deciding not to contemplate that problem, Mifune picked up the pace and headed toward Sid and the rest of the group.

Gathered near a ledge overlooking the pathway into the nearby town, was the group of Sid, Azusa, the main seven, and about 30 DWMA troops. Of course, no one in the group drew more attention than Black Star, who was currently giving a speech, listing all the gods he'd surpassed (because Tsubaki made the mistake of watching a documentary on ancient religions while he was in the room, but that's another story).

"Still haven't changed, have you Black Star?" Mifune remarked, smirking a bit as he played with the piece of wheat in his mouth. Taking notice of the samurai, Black Star turned to Mifune, his grin becoming even larger (which no one thought humanly possible). "Of course not Mifune, why would anyone want to change perfection?"

**"Enough." **A stern voice interrupted. The others looked to see the serious face of Azusa Yumi. "We will cease this nonsense and return to the topic at hand." She commanded, reaching up to touch the frame of her glasses. "Or do I need to insist?" She continued.

A suddenly very nervous and very quiet Black Star simply shook his head. "No maim."

Mifune thought to himself, "She's even found a way to keep Black Star quiet. Maybe _I_ should ask _her _for some training...or start wearing a pair of glasses."

His thoughts were interrupted as Sid began their briefing. "From what we know so far, reports began coming in about a week ago of people in the village of Nebun acting strangely, as though they were under the influence of madness. We sent some field agents to investigate, but by the time they got here, almost the entire village had been infected, so we quarantined it."

"So, what does any of this have to do with the witch, Ponera?" Maka questioned.

"Well, shortly before the outbreak started, there were reports of a witch being sighted in the town, fitting Ponera's description, along with a mysterious man carrying some sort of spell book, who both seemed to be studying those people affected by the madness. I never was the kind of man to be thick-headed or believe in coincidence, so I'd say those two are probably responsible."

"What about those freaks we met earlier?" Black Star snorted, somewhat bored.

"I'll take that question Sid." Azusa cut in. "After the battle with Arachnophobia, pieces were found missing from the morality manipulation machine. At roughly the same time, some of Ponera's henchman were spotted leaving the scene. Later, our intelligence spotted the Horseman heading toward this area, carrying some sort of package. Since I'm also not a great believer in coincidence and since we'd already requested your assistance, you were sent after him. I should finish by stating that it's our belief that they're somehow using parts gathered from Arachne's machine to induce this madness. Naigus was inside, gathering intel, when some interference caused her radio to be disrupted, but not before she told us to meet her at the town cathedral in about one hour."

"Then, what action are we going to take?" Kid inquired. "Yeah! What's the plan?" Black Star chimed in, earning him another silencing glare from Azusa.

Mifune stepped forward. "First you should know, that we've had that thing you recovered sent back to Professor Stein's lab at the Academy. Second, since we can't just plow through and kill these villagers, we'll sneak in using the villages' hidden sewer systems, which we mapped with Azusa's help. We'll all meet up with Naigus at the cathedral, hopefully she'll be able to give us some insight on where Ponera's hiding. Third, and finally, be on the lookout for some of Ponera's other henchmen. I know some of them personally, and they're not easy opponents."

"Hmph. Like that means much to me, I'll plow through em' all just the same." Black Star interrupted.

Annoyed, Mifune continued. "The first is a giant called Kill Bell, and from what some of the escaping villagers have told us, he used to be considered the town's personal freak, the one everyone avoided, whether he did anything wrong or not" Mifune spoke, a hint of disgust in his voice, "that is, until Ponera got a hold of him and started inciting him to attack and kill the villagers that attempted to leave." He continued, "Next is Alone, a werewolf and an immortal like Free. He began craving power and eventually wandered onto the Path of the Demon, feeding off innocent souls. The result was that he now has greater attack power, but he's mortal, so he can be killed, though I doubt it's easy."

Mifune's face became more serious as he spat out the wheat in his mouth. "The last one, though, is the toughest. A swordsman named Nals, called the Unbreakable Blade. I worked with him a few times. The last thing I'd heard of him was that he abandoned the Path of the Warrior and began consuming souls to increase his attack power. He's not like most kishin eggs, though, he retains his human shape and intelligence, due to an extreme level of mental discipline he's maintained. He's not someone to underestimate."

"Alright," Sid finished, "everyone take separate routes to the cathedral so we don't draw attention, while Azusa stays her to keep in contact with the Academy. Be tough, be smart, and please don't get killed."

Before Black Star could make another comment, Tsubaki placed a hand over his mouth, joining the others in nodding seriously before they departed.

Sid turned from the group to face Mifune, who was currently watching the group split up. "Thinking about something, samurai?" Sid inquired.

Mifune turned to face Sid, smirking a little. "Oh, I was just thinking that my life hasn't gone the way I expected."

Sid just blankly stated, "I'm a zombie, so that doesn't mean much to me."

Mifune simply sweatdropped in response. "Something else I didn't expect." He thought to himself, unaware of the silent witness to this conversation...a small red ant.

* * *

"Kid, have I ever told you that you take us to the nicest places?" The eldest Brooklyn devil commented, annoyed at the smell of sewage currently occupying the air space.

"In my defense, Liz, things could be worse" the young shinigami responded, currently squinting his eyes to see in light provided by the small flashlight in his pocket, as he focused steering his skateboard through the narrow sewer tunnels, above a small river of sewage "for example, I could have forgotten to bring along Beelzebub and then I'd have to have one of you carry me, so my clothes wouldn't get soiled."

A vein throbbed in Liz's forehead. "Why do I not find that comforting?"

Over in Kid's other hand, the youngest Thompson simply giggled.

After that, there was a long silence, save for the sound of Beelzebub's jets as Kid's thoughts drifted elsewhere.

"Hey, Kid?" Liz asked, her voice holding a concerned tone.

"Hmm?" Kid responded, somewhat distracted.

"You're still thinking about what happened when your lines connected, aren't you?"

Kid sighed. "It's not just the fact that I was actually symmetrical for once, as though that weren't enough. It's that power unlocked and those cracks that I heard appeared on Dad's mask." Kid's eyes shifted. "Plus, there's something else."

"What?"

"A remark Asura made when he was fighting my father. Do you remember when he said-"

"Hey, look!" Patty interrupted.

Startled a little, Kid and Liz looked ahead to see a small manhole cover at the roof of the tunnel.

"According to the map Azusa gave us, this should be where we get out." Kid stated, pushing the cover up.

Carefully peering out from beneath the cover, Kid strained to see in the bright light that was currently shining in his face. Pushing the cover up until it fell flat on the floor. Putting away Beelzebub, Kid looked to see that the tunnel had led to what seemed to be a well decorated theater.

"Hmm...a theater, if I weren't on a mission, I might catch a show, provided the choreography was perfectly symmetrical, of course." The shinigami fondly stated, stepping out from under the blinding stage light and admiring the alignment of the crystal chandeliers and red velvet curtains."

"Oooh, a theater!" Patty burst out, excitement bubbling over in her voice. "Does this mean we can catch a cool action movie when we get done?"

"Not that kind of theater, Patty." Liz corrected.

"What a minute" Kid blurted out, his eyes widening as he came to a conclusion. "If the town's been abandoned, then who left on these lights?"

As Kid spoke he didn't notice the silent figure, crouching behind him, readying it's blade to cleave at his neck. The figure took a silent breath, then sliced.

"Kid, look out!" Liz warned.

Alerted, Kid maneuvered Patty to block the swordsman's blade. There was a _clang _as the blade met the steel of Kid's gun, followed by a volley of shots, which the figure expertly dodged.

A thick silence hung in the air as Kid stared down his opponent. The figure before him was a tall, somewhat pale man, with medium length dark blue hair, brown eyes, dark boots, coat, gloves, and jacket, with a white Victorian-style shirt underneath and, most strikingly, a series of belts running across his face and one of his arms, which seemed to be attached to the rapier blade he was currently pointing at Kid.

"I believe you've heard of me" he spoke, his icy voice breaking the silence. "I am known as Nals, the Unbreakable Blade, and I'm here to claim your life, reaper."

"Really." Kid spoke, narrowing his eyes as he took his mortal sin stance. "Do try."

* * *

**Okay, that's it until next chapter. Sorry if it took too long to write and I hope it was** **fun to read. In case your wondering, Nals, Alone and Kill Bell are all characters from Monotone Princess, so if you know the game, you should be familiar with them. I should have the next chapter up in about 2 weeks. Till then, please remember to REVIEW, since I really want to know whether I'm pleasing anyone with this or not. Ciao for now!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, before you get started, I want you to know that Kid's fight with Nals will be in the next chapter. However, this chapter will be about what happened with that cocoon from chapter 1 and will feature Crona making his cameo appearance. Sorry, if I've caused any frustration by leaving Kid on a cliffhanger for 2 more weeks-Hey put that gun down!-but what happens in this chapter is important to the plot of the next chapter. So, let us begin!**

* * *

Crona did not know how to deal with things. This was no secret. Anyone who knew him was familiar with some of the things that would send him into a corner for several minutes. Loud noises, gory scenes in horror movies, people trying to find out his "true gender" (which had to do with the time Patty had jumped him in Maka's bathroom and attempted to give him a pat-down, but that's a different story) were some of these things. Spending the night in Professor Stein's lab was another one. Walking to Stein's lab in the middle of the night, the moon not helping his mood by laughing creepily as ever, Crona found himself recalling the events that led to this latest round of paranoia.

It began after the battle with Asura. Maka had insisted that Crona move in with her, Soul, and Blair. Things had been fine for the most part. Maka, of course, enjoyed having one of her best friends living close to her (though she could've done without Ragnarok's manners and appetite). Blair had also taken to Crona's presence quite well and often rubbed up against him in cat form, which Crona quite liked (barring the incident where Crona saw Blair in her naked human form and fainted). Even Soul, who, while never being the closest of friends with Crona, despite holding nothing against him, had come to enjoy not being the only guy in the apartment (which meant that Blair wouldn't be trying to smother him all the time).

It had worked out well for the most part...that is, until, shortly before Maka and Soul had left with the others for a mission, Blair had decided to throw a "little" party in the apartment and had decided to invite a "few" people. A few, meaning a bunch of customers and staff from Chupa Cabra's and a little, meaning a wild blowout that completely wrecked the apartment. Needless to say, Maka was not pleased (on a side note, it was probably one of the only times, if not, the first time Maka had chopped another girl).

Despite Blair apologizing like crazy and using her magic to help fix the mess, Maka didn't trust her to behave herself with just Crona in the apartment with her and Crona had grown close with Marie, who was more than happy to help Crona out. So, it was decided that Crona would stay with Stein and Marie while the others were away.

All of this led to the current predicament that Crona didn't know how to deal with, the thought of being dissected by Professor Stein. While he knew Stein had forgiven him for the incident with the snake, he couldn't shake the idea that Stein would want to study him while he was sleeping, drawing blood, taking skin, organs..."Crona!" A friendly voice called, jarring him out from his thoughts. He looked up to see the smiling face of Marie Mjolnir, standing next to the entrance to Stein's lab, waving at him.

"I guess it's not all that bad." He thought to himself, smiling and giving a little wave back as he approached the door.

Once he reached the entrance, Marie wrapped his shoulders in a hug, earning a small squeak and a light blush from Crona as he tried to ignore Ragnarok's internal remarks about her cleavage.

Marie soon drew back to look at Crona. "So how've you been Crona?" She asked tenderly.

"Oh, uh, I've been okay Ms. Marie. So...how's Professor Stein?"

At this, Marie gave a slight frown. "Oh, Frank's been wrapped up in his work lately. A little while ago, he got some kind of cocoon from Maka and the others, which he's supposed to analyze and he hasn't left the lab since. Anyways, I've got to head out to do some last minute grocery shopping. While I'm gone, you can get some sleep in the spare upstairs bedroom. Oh, and tell Ragnarok that if he gets hungry, he can help himself to whatever's in the fridge, just try and keep from making a mess." Marie explained, walking away from the lab. "I'll see you when I get back Crona!" Marie called, waving.

Crona shyly waved back before opening the door to Stein's lab. Being very timid, Crona was unnerved by the sudden darkness of the lab, so he decided to flip on the lights, a move he soon regretted. He was soon met by what appeared to be two gleaming yellow eyes.

Crona let out an "Eep!" of fright before running to a nearby corner, covering his head as though it would protect him.

"Um...hi Crona?" The somewhat confused voice of a certain mad scientist let out.

Turning around, Crona realized it was just Professor Stein, the glint the lights reflecting off his glasses. Crona sweat dropped a little at himself as he stood up from his corner. "Oh, hi Professor Stein." Crona nervously greeted the professor, his mind struggling to find some topic for breaking the ice, before noticing the bags under Professor Stein's eyes.

"A-are you okay? You look tired." Crona managed to squeeze out, hoping he didn't sound boring or intrusive.

"Oh, these?" Stein replied, rubbing his eyes. "I've been so busy trying to gather research to help out Maka and the others that I haven't been able to get any sleep in the past several days."

"Oh." Crona let out, unsure of what else to say.

"Anyways, right now I need to study this liquid sample I took from this cocoon Maka and the others obtained awhile ago." Stein explained, gesturing from the syringe in his right hand to the large white cocoon sitting on a nearby metal gurney. "I'll be downstairs in the lab if you need me. Don't hesitate to call." Stein advised, walking down the stairs and out of sight.

Standing alone, in the living room, Crona began to note the heaviness of his own eyelids as his thoughts drifted towards that bedroom Marie mentioned earlier.

* * *

_Scriiiit. _That was the sound that could be heard cutting through the silence of the dark house like a knife through butter as a certain pale cocoon burst open, spilling fluids onto the floor, a large, pale, spiny form climbing out, simplistic thoughts echoing across the creature's mind.

"Madness wavelength. Locate, feed off more." Images of a certain mad scientist doing dissections and a certain meister and black blob consuming souls filling it's brain. "Absorb, destroy, destroy!" It stomped through the darkened lab, intent on crushing anything that stood in it's path.

* * *

Now, another well known fact about Crona was the fact that he was far from a sound sleeper, his life providing enough nightmare material to fill several horror movies, meaning he seldom slept all through a single night. However, ever since standing up to Medusa, Crona found himself being able to sleep much easier, he even began looking forward to it, as his dreams were now filled more often with Maka and the others, rather than memories of his old life.

Still, that didn't mean Crona never had a bad night. Tonight was one such night. He'd already woken up three times tonight, tossing and turning, thoughts of fear and madness swirling through his mind as though something was yanking them from his subconscious, feeding off them, almost.

Finally, he awoke the fourth time with a sigh, stepping out of bed and slipping into his shoes, deciding to get some water for his suddenly dry throat.

Nervously, Crona made his way down the steps to the lab's first floor, the eerie quiet and darkness of the house reminding him more of the tomb from when he'd watched the Mummy with the others, then of a place where people live.

_Scriiit. _Crona froze, a sick feeling settling in his stomach as the noise ripped through the black night. As he strained his ears to hear more, a familiar _splortch_ rang out as Ragnarok burst from Crona's back.

"What's the deal, wimp? You finally decide to take my advice and raid the fridge or what?"

"Shhh, Ragnarok, I heard something strange." Crona whispered.

Ragnarok gave a slight chuckle. "Oooo! Maybe it's the big scary boogeyman." He waved his arms slightly, in a mocking fashion, while continuing his rant. "I swear, you're such a pussy, I can't even-"

_CRASH._ The noise came like sudden thunder, breaking Ragnarok's rant.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's a little weird." Ragnarok let out, somewhat flustered as Crona cautiously inched his way down the steps of the dark house. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, he peered around the corner, gazing into the darkened front room, lit only by a few streams of moonlight from the outside. He definitely didn't know how to deal with what he saw next.

Scuttering about, knocking and destroying furniture, was a large, white, ant-like creature, with strange appendages forming a sort of armor around it's more vulnerable inner exoskeleton.

"It's like a gigantic ant." Ragnarok muttered.

Crona nodded, somewhat spaced out. "A Gigant."

Ragnarok, suddenly annoyed, gave Crona's head a painful noogie. "Is that supposed to be funny?! You're not funny! I'm the one who comes up with the good lines around here and don't you forget it!" The demon sword ranted.

"Ow! Ow! Alright! Alright! Quit it Ragnarok!" Crona groaned. The two suddenly stopping once they noticed the imposing figure of the Gigant standing over them.

"Game time." Ragnarok commented, morphing to sword form in Crona's hand.

Grasping the hilt with one hand, while rubbing his arm nervously with the other, Crona looked up at the creature.

"Um..." he began, unsure of what to do next. "Could you please stop wrecking Professor Stein and Miss Marie's house? I don't think they'd like the mess you're making."

The Gigant simply growled, raising an armor-like appendage that knocked Crona into a nearby wall.

"Got any more bright ideas?" Ragnarok quipped irritatedly.

Ignoring Ragnarok, Crona rose from the ground, raised his sword, and shouted "Screech Alpha!" as a purple burst of energy shot forth, knocking the Gigant back a few feet. It then tilted it's appendages until they combined together, forming a sort of drill-like structure before it began spinning, becoming like some kind of killer top.

Before Crona could react, it spun into him, slicing through skin and sending him hurtling into another wall. A moment of dizziness passed as Crona pushed himself up with one arm, now aware of the blood leaking from his chest and mouth.

Readying for it's next attack Crona chuckled a little to himself at the knowledge of what would happen next. "Hehe..." he smiled madly, "Haven't you heard? My blood...is...BLACK!" He shouted as the drops of blood in the air changed to needles, puncturing the Gigant's armor and holding it in place, stopping it's spinning completely.

Raising his sword, Crona called out "Scream Resonance!" as the tortured wavelengths of both him and Ragnarok's souls synched together, their screams piercing the night. Ragnarok began to glow with a dark purple energy as he became larger and more powerful in Crona's hands. "Screech Gamma!" Crona yelled, another screaming pillar of energy shooting from Ragnarok's mouth, knocking the Gigant back against a wall, it's armor now crumbling. Before it could react, Crona dove forward, slicing and hacking like a madman with his now energized sword until the Gigant was little more than a pile of armor, a monster soul, and a lot of green goo, a large portion of which now covered Crona.

Crona simply stood over the pile, panting as Ragnarok sucked in the soul before powering down, changing back to chibi form.

"Daaaamn" he remarked, clearly impressed "why can't you be this much of a badass all the time?"

Before Crona could respond he turned, hearing the sound of the front door opening and a light switch being flipped as the room lit up, letting Crona see the oblivious figure of Marie Mjolnir, two large brown bags of groceries in each arm, her back turned to Crona.

"You're on your own for this one." Ragnarok spoke internally, before disappearing into Crona.

"Hi Crona, I'm back!" Marie spoke as she turned around, her voice filled with unknowing cheer. "I hope I didn't take too lo-wha?!" She gasped, her mouth dropping open as the groceries she was carrying hit the floor, while she took in the sight of several large craters in the wall, the furniture completely destroyed, and green goo over everything, including Crona.

"Um...Miss Marie..." Crona began sheepishly, his cheeks burning red as he rubbed his arm, trying to wipe away some of the goo soaking his robe. "I think I might've made a mess..."

Before Marie could respond, the two were alerted to the footsteps of Professor Stein walking into the room, absentmindedly rubbing his head after a particularly intense round of bad dreams.

Stein surveyed the damage and the expressions of the other two before coming up with a well reasoned response.

"Hmmm...did I miss something?"

* * *

**There it was, hope you enjoyed, and sorry if it was late. Also, in case you're wondering, the Gigant is also a character from Monotone Princess. Anyways, I'll try to get next chapter done in one week instead of two to make up for my delay. Till then, Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4

It has been said that nothing exciting ever happens at the theater. That it's just boring people doing nothing interesting in an overdramatic fashion.

Whoever said that would probably feel very differently, watching the two figures posed on the stage at the little theatre in the village of Nebun. On one end of the stage, stood Nals, the Unbreakable Blade, on the other, Death the Kid. Each of these performers had a different fighting style, each fought for different reasons, yet they each had one thing in common, the intent to kill.

For just a moment, they posed, Kid holding each Thompson in his mortal sin stance, Nals holding his blade defensively, the silence between them so tense, that Liz thought for a second that her heart was going to explode (meanwhile, Patty was fantasizing about taking a ride in a kangaroo's pouch, but that's another story). Another second, the silence was almost painful, then, like a sudden explosion, it began.

In a flash, Nals' blade cut through the air, slicing at Kid's mid-section. Kid dodged away from the blade as he attempted to kick Nals in the face, a move Nals blocked with the hilt of his sword, though the force sent him back a few feet, before Kid and Nals dashed toward each other again, their movements becoming hard to keep track of as Nals continued to slash and thrust at Kid, while Kid used Liz and Patty as tonfas, blocking Nals' sword and firing at him while Nals batted the shots away like a tennis player.

Seeing that his tactics weren't working, Kid moved in close and angled Liz at Nals' head before firing, forcing Nals to block with his blade, giving Kid an opening to use Patty to swipe Nals feet out from under him, knocking him to the ground as Kid kicked his sword away, before flipping into the air and raining down a volley of shots on the Unbreakable Blade, leaving a cloud of smoke behind Kid as he returned to the ground.

"That should take care of that." Kid confidently stated, glancing back toward the smoke over his shoulder. The young shinigami stepped towards the edge of the hole left in the stage by his actions."Well, Liz, Patty, now that our work here is done, we should collect his soul and-"

A sound, like water rapidly becoming steam, cut Kid off. A sudden blue glow flashed towards Kid. Reflexively, Kid raised Liz to cover his heart, blocking the source of the glow and causing it to veer off course and slice into Kid's shoulder instead, causing him to draw back in pain. "Kid! Are you okay!" Liz asked with concern. Before Kid could respond, an icy voice resonated throughout the room.

"Your mind is weak, distracted, filled with concerns." The voice stated, as Nals stepped out of the smoke, into the light.

"How could you have survived that attack?" Kid questioned.

"I simply used the belt on my arm to latch around my sword." Nals replied. "From there, it was only a matter of dodging the shots and hiding beneath the stage in order to appear dead, then waiting for you to inevitably try and collect my soul, giving me the perfect opportunity for an attack."

"You've thought of everything." Kid grimly stated.

"I merely learned how to discipline my mind, something you are sadly lacking." Nals responded. "Now my blade!" Nals called out, holding his blade high in the air, as it began glow blue again. "Soul slicer!" He yelled, thrusting his blade forward, again at Kid's heart.

As before, Kid raised Liz to block Nals' blade, but this time, instead of bouncing off the top of the gun, the blade instead hooked on Liz's trigger guard in mid swing, pulling her from Kid's grip and flinging her offstage.

"Liz!" Kid yelled, before being met by a kick to the hand from Nals, also knocking Patty from his grip.

Before Nals could move in to strike again, he received a palm strike from Kid, knocking him back a few feet. Kid stood, panting, taking his best fighting stance, aware of the blood leaking from his shoulder wound.

"So, even weaponless you still have some fight left in you. That's admirable, but, ultimately, futile." Nals charged forward, avoiding Kid's best efforts to block him as he kicked Kid in the face, before stabbing him with the hot blade through the abdomen, as Nals brought his blade sideways, knocking Kid from the tip and into a nearby pillar, a sickening crash following as a crater was left in the pillar.

Kid crawled from the crushed pillar toward the center stage, pushing down with his hands in an attempt to stand. "You..." Kid struggled, panting, pain and fatigue filling his voice. "You think...that...your egotistic quest for personal empowerment...justifies your monstrous actions. Disgusting."

"Hmph." Nals scoffed, raising his sword. "Spare me your lectures. I merely did what others seek to do. Improvement through willpower. The only difference is, I actually succeeded."

Kid closed his eyes as Nals raised his blade, preparing for the killing stroke.

_Bam. _That single sound punctured the air. Kid opened his eyes. A moment earlier, he'd been expecting death, now he was met with the confusing sight of a swordless Nals holding a smoking hand in pain. Alerted by a second trail of smoke, Kid glanced offstage to see the youngest Thompson, holding Liz and looking like she meant business.

"Interesting tactic, I applaud your use of teamwork." Nals complimented, a cold grin spreading across his face. "However..." In a move almost lightning quick, Nals whipped one of the belts wrapped around his arm into his palm. "Once I retrieve my sword, I'm afraid you will be my next targets."

Filled with worry, beads of sweat began to decorate Kid's forehead, while Patty kept her tough-as-nails expression. Suddenly, she pointed Liz toward the ceiling.

"Jump Kid!" She yelled.

Realizing Patty's plan, Kid quickly swept Nals' leg out from under him, before diving offstage. The confused Nals attempted to stand, while hearing four more shots ring out. As he scrambled to his feet, he looked up to see the sight of the stage's lights bearing down on him. In a split second move, Nals jumped to the side of the stage as the lights fell with a crash, the sound of broken wood and metal filling the air.

Before long, the sound had cleared as Nals stepped back toward the stage. Examining the rubble left from the fight, despite the now darker lighting, Nals quickly located his sword. Rather than retrieve it immediately, Nals let out a small, contented sigh, taking in the smell of dust and shattered bulbs.

Kid and the Thompsons were long gone. Nals had failed to finish the job, yet he'd met someone worthy of his attention. This would be perfect opportunity to prove his skill. Everything else was unimportant.

Setting his mind back to the task at hand, Nals whipped his belt around the hilt of his sword, before hurrying out of the theater. The performance, now over.

Now, you could argue that neither Kid nor Nals really won. You could argue that Nals was clearly the victor. But the winner no one could argue over, was the theater. This was a very exciting night for it.

* * *

**And that is that chapter. Sorry if I took longer than I said I would. Writer's block is such a pain. Anyways, next chapter will feature a bit of SoMa interaction, so fingers crossed on hoping I can capture their dynamic just right. It should be finished in about two weeks, ciao till then! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I know it's been waaaay too long since my last update, but I've had some serious writer's block. I know that's no excuse, but I hope you'll accept this next chapter as an apology. Anyways, this chapter contains SoMa and is rather tragic, so be prepared for some feels and sorry if I'm not very good at SoMa writing. Also, just a bit of advice, for character voices, try and picture Nals sounding like Legato Bluesummers from Trigun and Kill Bell sounding like Sloth from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.**

* * *

Silence. It can come in several forms. There neutral silence, the kind that comes, not because of something someone said, just because no one has anything to say. There is awkward silence, where a situation becomes so strange that one would wish for some noise to provide a change of subject. There is tense silence, where some important event is about to happen that makes all parties' heartbeats pick up speed. Like the calm before a storm. There is comfortable silence, an unspoken exchange between two people, where nothing is said, yet everything is understood to be alright. A sort of warmth. Then there's the most dreaded kind of silence. The kind that comes after some horrible event and hangs in the air like the stench of a dead corpse.

Silence of the first kind was what filled the dark room of the now sleeping giant, Kill Bell.

Soon, though, this silence was broken by a cheerful step, almost a dance, and a childish tune, hummed by an equally childish witch, echoing along the stone halls, leading to the giant's room. The noise soon made it's way in from the hallway as the door to the giant's room opened, letting a small portion of light stream in, as the dark-haired witch, Ponera, practically bounced up to Kill Bell's large bed. She placed her small, pale hands on one of his large shoulders, before giving him a shake. All the while, she happily sang a childish rhyme:

"A birdie with a yellow bill

hopped upon my window sill,

cocked his shiny eye and said:

Ain't you shamed, you sleepyhead?"

With a groan, the large figure stirred, sitting up, causing the bed beneath him to shake a bit. As Kill Bell made his way off of the bed and onto his feet, the witch Ponera couldn't help but stare a little at the figure looming over her.

Kill Bell is a large, slightly pale skinned, hunch-backed man with short, brown hair. He has a large yellow eye, in contrast to his other small pupil-less one. His face looks a little lumpy, and has slight facial hair . He has very large hands, but he also has short legs. He wears a light green sweater, and on the front there is a small bell insignia. He also wears blue pants and black shoes.

"Ponera." The hunchback greeted, in a deep, gravelly voice. "Is it...time?"

"Mmmhmm, that's right big guy. Now's the time to make all those meanies pay for hurting you."

"For hurting me..." he repeated, clenching his fists. He took a step toward the doorway, now ready.

"Hold on a minute there, silly!" Ponera sang, tapping Kill Bell on the back. "Don't forget your special bell!"

With a grunt, Kill Bell nodded and stepped towards the large brass bell in the corner of the room. As he stretched one of his large hands to grasp the black wooden handle of the bell, memories came flooding in. Memories of rocks being thrown and names being called, over and over. And the most sickening part was that it always ended the same way. He'd go back to the bell tower and ring the bell for a village that hated him.

_BONG. _That same sound, all the time. Always for those ungrateful people. But now it was different, now it rang only for him.

Steeling his resolve, the giant slung the huge bell over his shoulder and began march down the dark stone hallway, his hulking steps contrasting with the sound of Ponera skipping happily beside him. Soon, however these sounds were gone from the room, and only neutral silence remained.

* * *

Elsewhere, silence was the last thing on the minds of a certain scythe and a certain scythe meister at this moment. The noises sounding from the rooftop they were standing on being of a very different range.

"You serious? Your drawing skills are so bad that even **you** can't read the map you drew?" Soul, the demon scythe on scythe meister Maka's shoulder teased.

"Shut up Soul." Maka pouted. "I can read it fine, I...just...can't...tell...what...anything...is...or...where...we're...at." Maka gradually let out, her resolution steadily fading. "It's really _that_ bad isn't it?" She said, hanging her head in defeat.

Feeling slightly guilty, Soul attempted to cheer his meister up a bit. "Okay, it's not _that _bad..." Maka's face brightened a bit, unfortunately causing Soul's mischievous streak to return. "...it's only as bad as a chicken walking through ink." The scythe chuckled, before being overwhelmed the painful sensation of a hardback book hitting his blade.

"Ooow...it hurts even when I'm in weapon form." Soul painfully observed.

"If you're done trying to be clever, Soul, maybe you could come up with some way to get us to the rendezvous point." Maka fumed. Ever since she and Soul had come out of the scheduled point in the sewers, they'd been trying use Maka's hand drawn map of the village to find their way around, needless to say, it wasn't going well.

"Hey." Soul called, his voice gentler now. "I was just joking...it's that cathedral to your right." Maka turned, glancing to the tall building shrouded in the dark distance. She let out a sigh. "Then let's get going." She said softly to no one in particular.

Soon, the two were off, Maka stealthily gliding over rooftops in a fashion that would make Black Star jealous, being very careful not to make any noise alerting the maddened villagers below. Even at the speed they were moving, Maka could still make out their jagged rictus grins and crossed eyes. Despite all their experience fighting madness, those features still made Maka slightly uncomfortable, but then, she supposed, that's probably a good thing.

"Hey." Soul called, snapping Maka out of her thoughts.

"Sorry." Maka replied. "Just got a little distracted." She tried to explain.

Feeling the concern emanating from her partner, Maka decided to change subjects. "Hey, you know I've been keeping track of all the souls we've collected, right?"

"Yeah?" Soul responded, a questioning tone in his voice.

"Well..." Maka said, grinning a little. "we're up to 98."

"Ohh, I see," Soul developed a grin of his own, "so now I really will be the coolest guy at the academy. Who knows, maybe if you're lucky, I'll share some of my coolness with you." His grin widened. "Not that you need it."

Maka couldn't help but blush a little at the compliment. Suddenly, feeling a bit more comfortable, she gave a giggle. Now, Soul wouldn't admit this, being the cool guy and all, but he found that very cute. He let out a slight chuckle in return.

Suddenly feeling a bit tired, Maka made a decision."Let's stop and catch our breaths for a second." Soon, the pair touched down on the roof of the town's nearby library, and, deciding that the bell tower looked particularly comfy, leaned on it.

Maka let out a relaxed breath as she felt a wave of ease wash over her partner through their soul link. Before long, the two found themselves in the middle of the comfortable kind of silence, unaware of the deformed pair of yellow eyes that watched them from the tower above. Silence, as Maka and Soul were about to learn, could be quite fragile.

* * *

Kill Bell couldn't stand it. That stupid sound. The girl's giggling. The boy's chuckling. He'd heard those sounds before, usually accompanied by rocks being thrown and sharp stinging little pains over his body. He'd always been the object of those sounds, never a participant. It was like being left out in a cold rain while the rest of the world was inside, snug and warm.

But that was before he'd met Ponera. Before she fed him those little blue things that made him stronger. Before she helped him rip that bell from this very tower it hung from. Before she'd taught him how to fight back and hurt all those horrible people that wanted to hurt people like them. This time was different. This time, those smug, cruel people would be the ones left out in the rain.

He grunted, lifting the bell so that it hung over his shoulder, like it was an ax and he was about to chop firewood. He, looked down at that girl and hearing her giggle at something her weapon had said. Suddenly, for a moment, he wanted to be where her weapon was. Making a cute girl laugh and being able to laugh with her. He pushed those thoughts aside and bent his knees, readying himself. He then leapt from the bell tower, and swung his bell as he plummeted toward the ground.

The girl looked up for a moment in surprise as he brought his bell down, giving her a brief second which she used to dodge and roll before he struck the spot she'd been standing in. _BONG _was the sound as his bell let loose it's sonic attack, shattering the area at the base of the tower.

Kill Bell glanced up from the dust and debris left by his attack. He saw the girl, posed with her weapon in hand, ready for battle, her expression deadly serious.

"Kill Bell." Maka spoke, her tone as serious as her face, yet with a hint of gentleness to it. "We know the witch, Ponera has been using you to advance her twisted plans, but if you let us, we can help you."

"Grrrr..." Kill Bell grunted. Surely, this was some trick or cruel joke.

"You're thinking about what Mifune said, aren't you Maka?" Soul questioned, sounding not at all surprised.

"Yeah." She answered back. "I started thinking that he might be like Crona, so we should try to help him."

Soul let out a slight sigh. Leave it to Maka to complicate an already difficult situation. He didn't know whether to be impressed or exasperated, but, then again, he knew that Maka would do what she thought was best, regardless of what anyone else thought. It was one of the things that made her cool.

"Okay." Soul agreed. Whatever Maka was gonna do, he knew she'd need his help.

Maka smiled slightly at Soul's support, before glancing back to face Kill Bell again. "So what do you-"

_BONG _Kill Bell swung his bell again, unleashing another sonic boom. Maka quickly rolled to dodge the attack. She slid to a lower section of the roof before spreading her feet to regain her balance.

"Looks like you might have to make him listen the hard way." Soul commented.

Maka nodded, readying for another attempt...

_Crick. _

Maka froze.

A split second later, the roof they were standing on gave way with a _CRASH. _Maka soon found herself waking up underneath a pile of books (a situation that, in any other circumstance, would have made Maka giddy) to the sound of Soul shouting her name.

Maka gave a groan as she rose, shaking the books off from her (and secretly wishing that she could take a break and read some of them).

"It's okay, Soul, I'm fi-"

"Look out, Maka!" Her weapon warned.

She glanced up to see a large golden bell baring down on her. Quickly, she dodged to the side. She dashed forward, attempting slash at her opponent's hands in order to get him to drop his bell. However each slash was quickly blocked as Kill Bell maneuvered his bell in front of her attacks. For someone so large, he was surprisingly fast.

She jabbed the pole end of Soul at Kill Bell's stomach, ducking under the swing of his bell. She drew back a bit, remembering that she was attempting to get through to this guy.

"Come on, you can trust us." She said, putting forth her best smile as she extended a hand.

"SHUT UP!" Kill Bell roared, memories of jeering townspeople filling his head as he swung his bell forward, sending another sonic boom towards Maka. She quickly rolled aside again.

He began ranting in his gravelly voice. "All my life, people have wanted to hurt me! I try to hide, but you find me and make me ring your stupid bells! You say you wanna be friends, then when I believe you, you just laugh at me and hurt me more! Well, now I've got Ponera! Now I don't have to take this crap from you!" He then raised his bell above his head, swinging it around as a strange yellow energy began coursing from the bell to his body.

"Hey, Maka..." Soul called.

"Yeah, I know Soul, it looks like he's charging up for something." Maka replied.

"So we should counter..." Soul began.

"...with a charged up attack of our own." Maka finished, warily. "Okay, Soul but let's take it easy. Remember, we just wanna knock some sense into him."

"Yeah, I know Maka, but be careful, we won't be able to help anyone if he kills us." Soul cautioned.

"Relax Soul, it's going to be okay." Maka reassured. "Ready?" She questioned.

"Ready." Soul answered.

"Let's go! Soul Resonance!" The pair called out as their wavelengths flowed into each other. Maka's kind, hard-working personality meeting with Soul's, reminding him of warm bread.

Meanwhile, Soul's more laid-back, rough edged demeanor flowed to Maka, reminding her of the feeling of a cat's rough tongue.

Soon, they melded together to create a warm glow within the two, surging through them like a kind of internal lightning. Before long, their power radiated outward, as a blue energy encircled them, Soul's blade changing from a normal scythe blade to a glowing white crescent shape.

"Witch-hunter!" Maka called out as Kill Bell simultaneously completed his attack.

"Twelve Chime Strike!" He yelled as he swung his bell to the ground. With a loud _b__ong_, a yellow energy shot out as Maka swung witch-hunter.

However, rather than strike their intended targets, the two attacks came together, colliding in a brilliant explosion of white light as the attacks backfired upon their respective owners.

When the light died down, that tense silence soon returned to the field as dust drifted over the unconscious forms of all the figures present. Maka, lying face down with Soul several meters away, and Kill Bell, on his back, one arm broken, surrounded by the shattered fragments of his bell.

Soul was the first to awaken. With a grunt of pain, he lifted his bruised body from the ground. Looking on, he sighed in relief as he saw Maka's form begin to stir. He slowly made his way toward her now slouched body, thinking to himself about teasing her for getting knocked out.

His relief, however, was short-lived as the giant figure of Kill Bell burst out from from the dust, clutching Maka's head in the massive hand of his one, unbroken arm.

"I'll teach you to hurt me! I'll crush your skull!" He roared, his expression becoming one of pure rage. His grip tightened.

In a panicked frenzy, Soul transformed his arm into a scythe blade and charged forward. Maka was in trouble, he had to help her, had to...

_Scriiit. _That was the sound as Kill Bell's flesh was ripped. Yet, it was not the blade of Soul's scythe that did the ripping. No, it was from Maka herself that two pairs of blades pierced all the way through Kill Bell's torso.

Shock was painted on the faces of both Kill Bell and Soul.

Kill Bell drew back as blood leaked from his wounds and mouth. He fell backwards as his vision began to fade. The familiar sound of bells filled his ears. The last sight his eyes met was that of a small red ant on the wall. A single word escaped his lips.

"Ponera..."

* * *

The worst kind of silence had arrived. It hung like a horrible smell and loomed like a dark cloud as Soul stood behind Maka, trying as hard as he could to figure out what to do.

Just a minute ago, Maka had come out of her trance-like state, the blades from her weapon form receding into her. Seeing the red, scaled soul before her, it hadn't taken Maka long to figure out what happened.

Now she slumped, on her knees in despair and self-loathing.

This was a soul that had been used by others, a soul she'd wanted to save.

And she'd failed.

Soul had had some problems of his own at this moment. He'd wanted to know if this meant any changes in their partnership. Maka was in danger and had only been saved because of her dormant weapon blood. He'd failed to protect her. He felt useless.

Yet, looking at the slump form of his meister, staring miserably at their 99th soul, at her failure, he knew she was feeling just as bad, if not, worse.

He did the only thing he could think of. Gently, he rested a hand on her shoulder. After a few moments, she reached one of her gloved hands back and gave his a gentle squeeze.

Whatever kind of silence you find yourself dealing with, it's usually best done with another person.

* * *

**So was that sad or am I overselling my writing abilities? Anyways, you can expect my next chapter in about a month and a half. Till then, ciao!**


	6. Chapter 6

_I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry about taking this long to update. I've had some dramatic stuff going on recently, along with a nasty case of writer's block, at least, that's my best excuse._

_Anyways, I hope that this chapter is worth the wait, please review, and I'll try to have the next chapter out in a month or two._

* * *

It has been said that acting out of character is serious business. Right now, the sorcerer Grimoire had to seriously consider this bit of wisdom as the normally cheerful, child-like witch, Ponera, broke down. Her tears shined in the moonlight as they fell down her face, onto her white dress and the stones which lined the floor.

"Why?" She cried. "Why'd you have to send him off like that? You knew he'd get killed, didn't you? Big meanie."

The sorcerer responded by softly wrapping his arms around the young witch, as she gave little hits on his chest with balled up fists.

"Now." Grimoire whispered soothingly. "You know I'd never do anything like that to one of us, Ponera. I just wanted to give him a chance to fight for our side, to make you happy, like he'd always wanted."

"Kill Bell..." Ponera sobbed, now weeping openly onto Grimoire's shoulder.

The sorcerer patted her head. "It'll be alright, we're going to make those horrible people pay for everything they've done to people like us. Do you remember the day we met? I do. In the wreck of that burnt house, I came across a little girl. Her white dress was covered in blood, and she spoke only in a monotone." He paused, drawing back to look Ponera in the face. "She was the greatest thing I've ever collected."

After a moment of thick sobbing, Ponera responded by wrapping her arms around the spellcaster.

He softly stroked her hair, whispering "And that's how I met my Ponera, my Monotone Princess."

A pleased _hmm _left her throat as he continuing stroke her hair.

"That's my princess, and every princess needs a prince, which is how I'm going to cheer you up. I'm going to let you greet that prince, that boy from the Star Cla-"

"You mean the cute one with the blue hair that I just wanna snuggle like a little caterpillar?!" She suddenly questioned, her personality having done a complete 180 to become cheerful and excited.

"Well...yes." The sorcerer answered, somewhat surprised by the sudden enthusiasm. "I've already set the stage by having their route cut-"

"Oh, it's gonna be fun!" The childish witch interrupted. "Who knows, maybe I can put him in your book, and then I'll be able to be able to hug him like a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon whenever I want. I can even show him my ant farm!" She said excitedly, as she spun around in a circle, holding her pink, stuffed ant by the hands.

"Oh, don't worry, there'll be time for that later, for now, maybe you should just settle for a first date. Alone should be able to get him warmed-" Grimoire advised, before turning to find Ponera already gone.

He thought to himself "Out of character isn't so unmanageable, if you know what strings to push."

Chuckling a little, he opened the ancient, gray manuscript that hung at his side. A flash of white, and a crystal ball soon hovered above the book's pages.

"Now, let's see what we can do about that meddlesome mummy..."

* * *

You're not really a philosophical kind of guy, are you, Black Star? But when you'd read about ancient gods in some dusty old books you saw in the library (since you needed some info on your competition), you started noticing something troubling. A lot of times, in those old stories, gods didn't act much different from demons.

Some of the Greek ones destroyed villages on their worst days, some Egyptian ones weren't against murdering their own relatives, and you didn't even wanna get started thinking about the Aztecs.

So, anyways, all of this had you thoroughly confused. What exactly was the difference between between a god and a demon anyways?

Even though you're not exactly the philosophical type, this question bugs you like an itch you can't scratch.

"Black Star." Your weapon calls out from her chain scythe form, sensing your distraction.

"Huh? Oh, right." You say, positioning yourself so that you hit the next rooftop smoothly. Now's probably not the best time for this. Deep thoughts never were your specialty. No, you're more of an actions kind of guy.

Speaking of which, you had to remember to give that Azusa lady a smack for that lousy map she gave you. What was she thinking?! That tunnel was completely collapsed!

Oh well. Gods didn't worry about such things anyways. You return to the task at hand, stealthily hopping from rooftop to rooftop, like a particularly quiet grasshopper.

"Hey... Black Star." Tsubaki asks, somewhat warily.

"Yeah Tsubaki?" You're a tad worried. She's never this nervous, at least, not around you. You have that affect.

"Have you... thought about what I said earlier?"

"Oh...that." You say, making latest jump with less vigor than usual.

"Yeah...so what do you say? I mean, I haven't seen my father in a while. I only wrote to him after...my brother. Now, after everything...the Kishin...I wanna talk to him about all of it." Her tone sped up a bit. "And it'd be good for you too. I mean, a god always likes meeting new followers, right?" She suggests, a little jokingly. You appreciate it anyways. She really knows what you like to hear, you think as you land on the stone paved pathway ahead of you, the cathedral in your sights.

"I can think of someone else who'd really like to meet a cute little god like you."

Jerking your head suddenly, you grip both of Tsubaki's blades in a battle stance and glance upwards to see a dark-haired woman in a white staring down at you, wearing a goofy smile. Oh boy, now here was a weird one.

She wore some sort of strange, black antenna headband and was currently resting her head against a bizarre, pink, stuffed ant type of thing. In addition to all that, her legs were currently swinging from the stone arch which she was perched on and she was humming some of kind of rhyme you couldn't understand.

Your eyes narrow in recognition.

"Let me guess" a confident grin falls upon your face "you wouldn't happen to be Ponera, would you?"

The witch giggles in response. "Awww, cute and smart. You really are a little god."

You hope that your cheeks haven't become too red.

"So...uh, what's a nice witch like you doing around here anyways?" You say, hardly believing that you just said that cliche line. Neither does Tsubaki, as evidenced by her annoyed growl.

Ponera gave a tiny giggle, her hand over her mouth. "You're so sweet." She sighs, a hint of sadness sinking into her features. "And you're loyal too. That's why I probably couldn't get you to come with me, but it won't matter anyways. Grimoire's gonna collect you and put you in his scrapbook and then I'll be able to play with you whenever I want." She says as though singing a nursery rhyme.

"That's not right." Tsubaki chimes in, sounding somewhat annoyed. "You can't just go around taking things and treating people like they're your possessions." Her voice softens. "You don't seem like a bad person. Why are you doing this?" She always was the caring sort. It's one of the reasons you admire her so much.

Ponera upturns her nose in a snobby fashion, suddenly standing up and placing both hands on her hips. "I have my reasons, but that's not important. What is important is that you get your cute little butt to that church thingy before my big bad wolf buddy eats your mummy friend."

"Crap!" You shout, your feet moving faster than your brain (an occurrence which some lesser people would say is common), carrying you to the aid of your mummy-wrapped mentor.

The moonlit night, the old style buildings, your entire surroundings soon become a blur as you rush toward the cathedral. You just barely catch the parting of the odd witch Ponera in your haste.

"Hmph. You fit in more with us than them anyways." She says in an almost bitter tone. Through the link in your resonance, you can tell that your partner heard it too, a twinge of her concern reaching you. Before you have time to question this development, a large shadow engulfs you, blotting out the moonlight, the smooth, towering, cathedral door impedes your path.

A lift of your leg, a slight (in your opinion) pressure, and the large, wooden door splinters into a million pieces. Past the broken entrance, you find a scenario that proves the necessity of your presence:

Your mentor, the school nurse, narrowly dodging attacks from a misshapen wolf-like creature.

Your eyes narrow, your fingers tighten around Tsubaki's hilt. It's time for this star to shine.

"Tsubaki, Enchanted Sword mode." You order.

"Right." Your partner replies, her actions matching the diligence of her speech as she glows brightly, her blade morphing, elongating to become the shape of that formidable sword. As her light dissipates, the weight of the blade presses into your palm. You feel a slight twinge as you sense the power coursing through the sword and into your body. You still haven't gotten used to the power which you know it holds (though you will eventually, what with surpassing God and all).

The light from Tsubaki having gotten its' attention, the wolf creature turns its' head towards you. It's red eyes glow intensely as look at you. You can feel it. Your opponent is looking you over, analyzing you, while you in turn do the same to it.

Its' fur is grey and its' figure could give Crona lessons in looking malnourished. A mane of white hair hangs from its' head. It wears nothing more than a pair of tattered red shorts with a spiked purple belt and skull belt buckle. Most strikingly, on its' wrists are bolted purple bracelets with long gleaming blades portruding from them.

Oh boy, now here was an original.

Your gaze connects with that of your opponent. His red eyes glow like a taillight as he licks his lips. The air is tense. Nygus, having regained her footing, takes a step back, as though anticipating some great release of energy.

She would not be let down.

You and Alone surge toward each other, unleashing such a whirlwind of slashes and slices that one could be forgiven for mistaking your battle for a miniature hurricane.

Alone is a tougher opponent than you were expecting. Despite his skinniness, his blows are fast and hard. Eating all those souls must really have improved his power. In addition, he knows how to use his teeth and claws. Still, as you dodge his slashes and bites, you can't help but notice his ferocity. Perhaps that's the key. Using it against him.

You flip backwards away from your opponent. "Tsubaki, shadow star, smoke Tsunami." You say, intent on testing the limits of the upgrades you'd received in your last battle with Mifune.

Diligent as ever, Tsubaki replies with one often spoken word, "Right."

A brief jolt of energy, a flash of light, and the cathedral flooded with a thick, black smoke. "Enchanted Sword mode has many advantages." You think, as you slow your breathing. Your heart rate drops as you listen for your opponent.

In no time at all, you locate his snarling breaths, getting closer, closer, close- "Black Star, move!" Tsubaki yells, causing you to just barely flip away from the desiccated werewolf, gaining a shallow cut along your throat.

He's faster than you thought. If you'd been a second slower, he may have severed your jugular vein.

"Nice try." Alone speaks, almost a growl, yet just barely intelligible enough to be understood. "I don't need to see you when I can smell you!"

He lunges forward as you leap high, stabbing Tsubaki's sword form into a nearby stone pillar to hang from it. You take a deep breath. No doubts, this guy's tough.

Your moment of calm is interrupted, however, as a gnarled hairy figure bursts up from the smoke.

"Peekaboo! Alone got you!" That's all you have time to register before pain assaults your senses, your chest sprays, and you hit the ground with a resounding _thud_. The damn wolf got you.

The next thing you know, you're laying against the cold, hard marble floor, your partner calling your name. You struggle to push yourself up from the floor as you hear another distinct _thud_. A shadow moves to loom over you. You turn your head upward, most of the smoke having dissipated by now, allowing you to see your lupine enemy licking his lips in anticipation, his eyes glowing red in the moonlight.

"You're one of the those sides of bacon that beat the Kishin, aren't you?" The foul creature questioned, raising one of his claws high, letting it gleam in the moonlight. "The power boost that I get from eating your soul will make losing my immortality more than worth it!" He swung his claw downward.

Then, from within the depth of your mind, you hear her voice call out. "Black Star! You can't let him beat you! You're going to surpass God, remember?"

_Crunch. _That's the sound Alone's claw makes as you catch it in your hand, squeezing with all your strength, before blasting it with your wavelength, the crackle of energy utterly destroying your opponent's left arm.

At that, the wolf pulls back, howling in pain, blood spurting from his stump.

"I know." You say, standing up, your hair a mess, your opponent's blood on your face.

You grit your teeth, your eyes narrow in determination, boring into Alone. Even with all the pain he's in from losing his arm, you can still feel his fear at your gaze. He takes a step back, and you can almost hear a whimper.

"I'm done playing around! Now I'll show you how a real star shines!" You yell.

"Tsubaki! Enchanted Sword: Zeroth Form Masamune: Leaf of the Moonlit night!"

"Right!"

A flash of ebony and Tsubaki transforms, becoming a large, sleek, black ninja star, almost like her usual ninja star form, but somehow, more slender, more... elegant. The white, ornate designs don't hurt either.

Your enemy growls, rushing towards you. You fling Tsubaki with both hands, your strength causing the blade to cut through the air like a knife. It doesn't matter though, Alone dodges your throw with ease.

"All talk!" He yells, slicing and biting madly at you as you flip away from him. "You can't keep this up forever! You'll run out of energy and then you'll be as dead those meat bags from my village! You all thought I couldn't succeed, that I'd always be weak, well I'll show you!" He rants.

You leap above his head, landing behind. You crouch as he turns to face you."You know, a real man doesn't count on talk to win his fights. A real man acts!"

SLASH.

Your enemy howls in pain as Tsubaki cuts through his side. Perfect, just like you intended. He dodged the first shot, but didn't count on the blade to ricochet.

"Now Black Star!" Tsubaki yells.

"Do you know when a star shines brightest, you mangy wolf?!" You yell, leaping forward. Your hand slides through the center hole of the still spinning shuriken.

Time seems to stand still as a sleek shadowy substance coats your fist up to the wrist, white ornate patterns following. Something works it's way into your soul, something mysterious and ancient and powerful. The Will of Nakatsukasa. The blades extend as you ready for your attack. You grin at your feral opponent. His eyes say it all.

_Oh crap._

Palm open, there is a flash of jet black as a concussive blast explodes from your hand.

CRASH.

The blast connects with your enemy, knocking him backwards, destroying two columns and bring the entire choir loft and part of the roof down on him in a dust clouded heap of debris.

You stand now, straight and tall. "A star shines brightest when the sky is darkest." You say simply, more to yourself than anyone else.

You release your blade, feeling Tsubaki and the blade's souls disconnect from your own. Tsubaki returns to human form.

"Do I know how to knock 'em down or do I know how to knock 'em down?" You boast, hands planted on your hips.

"Yeah, you, uh, you really know how to knock 'em down, Black Star." Tsubaki responds, smiling pleasantly. Her eyes are closed and there's a small bead of sweat on her forehead. Clearly, your greatness has rendered her speechless.

"You add a whole new meaning to the term overkill, Black Star." A voice a dryly comments from behind you. You turn to see Nygus, clutching her arm in obvious pain, other small wounds on her body. Apparently Alone did a number on her.

"Are you okay, Nygus?." Tsubaki says, rushing over to her. She's always so caring, truly, the only partner fit for you.

"My wounds aren't too bad, I just need your help with-"

BOOM.

A sudden explosion scatters debris, making little pieces of wood and stone gently pelt your skin. All of you turn in surprise the see Alone, risen from the heap, looking badly beaten, but, also, _enraged. _Damn, he's tougher than you thought.

"I'll show you! I'll show everyone!" He zooms towards you, claw raised, eyes glowing red, blood dripping from his teeth. "I! AM! NOT! WEAK!" Oh damn! He's too fast and Tsubaki's too far away. It's too-

_Thunk._

That single sound punctures the air.

You watch the lights in your opponent's eyes dim. Unceremoniously, he slumps to the floor, a katana sticking through the side of his head. With his last movement, he attempts to reach his claw forward, towards you. No good. He doesn't even make it an inch.

"You should be more careful, Black Star." A stern voice advises, drawing your attention.

You turn to see the white-haired samurai, Mifune, standing next to the door with Sid. How embarrassing.

Sid rushes over to Nygus, while Mifune paces towards you, examining the scene before him. He stares at the corpse of your defeated enemy. Wordlessly, he plucks the sword from Alone's head, his body dissolving into black ribbons, leaving a red, scaled soul behind. You think back to his last words. So, he just wanted to get stronger, to prove he wasn't weak. Maybe you were a bit more like him than you'd care to admit.

Still, even if he had achieved his goal, would that make him a god, a demon, maybe both?

"Black Star." Mifune calls, bringing you from your thoughts. "I hope you didn't beat me only to be struck down for not paying attention. Is that what you're going to do with my title?"

"Don't count on it samurai! After all, even a shining star has dim moments." You respond, grinning wide, fist pumping forward.

Unamused, the samurai continues. "Bravado will only get you so far, then it'll get you in trouble, Black Star." He walks over to rejoin the others.

You look back to where the red soul floats, staring into it. Though you didn't show it, the samurai's comment cut deep_. _You wonder, is this where your path will lead? And, suppose you do succeed and you do surpass God, what if you become indistinguishable from this beaten demon?

"Hey." A demure voice calls, bringing you from your thoughts. You turn to see your partner, smiling gently at you, resting a hand on your shoulder. "You were great, just be more careful next time, okay?" She says. Your chest warms. Her words are kind and her eyes, full of admiration, compassion, and something else, something you return, but can't quite say... not just yet.

Soon, she removes her hand. Still smilling, she gestures for you to follow her to the others. You hear the sounds of familiar voices outside. You think of your friends, that bookworm Maka, ever cool Soul, proper Kid, crazy Patty, smart-mouthed Liz, timid Crona, all your other friends and teachers, especially her.

God or demon, you decide that it doesn't really matter, not really, so long as you're a god to them, that is.


	7. Announcement

Sorry to say this, but I've decided to retire. I just don't have as big an interest in Soul Eater or fanfiction anymore, or a drive to write, so this story will, sadly, remain unfinished.

If anyone has an interest in adopting this fic, please PM me first.

I hope I've brought everyone who read this, some measure of joy with my writing, unfinished or not.

Ciao and may you have good lives, whoever you are.


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